1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates generally to electrophotographic printers and more particularly to a toner cartridge loading and latching features.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to reduce the premature replacement of components traditionally housed within a toner cartridge for an image forming device, toner cartridge manufacturers have begun to separate components having a longer life from those having a shorter life into separate replaceable units. Relatively longer life components such as a developer roll, a toner adder roll and a doctor blade are positioned in one replaceable unit (a developer unit). The image forming device's toner supply, which is consumed relatively quickly in comparison with the components housed in the developer unit, is provided in a reservoir in a separate replaceable unit in the form of a toner cartridge that mates with the developer unit. In this configuration, the number of components housed in the toner cartridge is reduced in comparison with traditional toner cartridges.
It is important that the toner cartridge is precisely aligned within the image forming device. If the toner cartridge is misaligned, the exit port on the toner cartridge may not seal against the entrance port on the developer unit potentially causing severe toner leakage which may result in mechanical and print quality defects. Further, if the toner cartridge is misaligned, a drive gear on the toner cartridge may not achieve proper gear mesh with a corresponding drive gear in the image forming device potentially resulting in gear cogging. The toner cartridge must also be rigidly held in place after it is installed in the image forming device in order to prevent the positional alignment of the toner cartridge from being disturbed during operation. The requirement for tight positional control must be balanced with the need to permit a user to easily load and unload the toner cartridge into and out of the image forming device. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that precise alignment of the cartridge and relatively simple insertion of the cartridge into the image forming device is desired.